Part of Middle Mountain in the George Washington National Forest,
and sister hike to the Duncan Knob Hollow Hike, the Duncan Knob hike offers solitude, a rock scrabble, and
great views of the Massanutten Range and Shenandoah Valley.
Water is scarce over most of the hike, so make sure to bring
plenty.
Start up yellow blazed
Scothorn Gap Trail after crossing Passage Creek. Traverse one switch back
and climb steeply, pass a clearing and
pond (depending on what time of the year it is, the pond
might be completely dry) at 1.0 miles.
At 1.3 miles come to a
four way junction and the yellow blazed Scothorn Gap Trail you
have been on turns left. Directly ahead is the orange blazed Massanutten
Trail, which you will use to return. To the right is Massanutten
Connector Trail.
Turn left on Scothorn Gap Trail, the trail gradually rises and passes a small clearing
before coming to the junction
of blue blazed Gap Creek Trail after 1.5 miles from turning left at
the junction.
Turn right onto blue blazed Gap Creek Trail as it ascends steeply to the ridge line in 0.3 miles. On the ridge line is a white blazed trail on the left. This
leads you to Duncan Knob in 0.3 miles, requiring scrambling
over rocks in places to get there.
To continue the hike return
to Gap Creek Trail and Turn left. Note: it is easy to miss the trail
on the way back, the white blazes in the rock field are hard
to find. Just remain on the ridge line and you will reestablish
the white trail if you miss it.
Take blue blazed Gap Creek Trail downward (steep) for 0.8 miles before
meeting up with the orange blazed Massanutten Trail, at a four
way junction, where you will turn right.
Turn right on Massanutten Trail for 1.8 miles. Veer right steeply
upward for another 0.4 miles then descending 0.7 miles and returning
to the four way junction you turned left at on the way up earlier.
Massanutten Connector Trail turns left here.
Continue straight
on the yellow blazed Scothorn Gap Trail 1.3 miles, re-crossing Passage
Creek and returning to the parking area.
Interactive Hike Map BelowPrintable
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Calculate roughly how many calories you could burn on the Duncan Knob hike:
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Hiker
Reviews For The Duncan Knob Hike (5 Most Recent)
Our route took in both Strickler Knob and Duncan Knob over a two-night, 8.63 mile, trek. We started from the Gap Creek trailhead on the Crisman Hollow road climbing to the Scothorn Gap trail in the opposite, counter clockwise, direction from those on this web page. It's a rocky jeep trail and has a lot of wet spots from springs and runoff. The weather was unseasonably warm all weekend, near 90 degrees, and there weren't any leaves on the trees in this area. A recent forest fire had scorched the ridge above the campsites along the Crisman Hollow road upward and southeastward toward Waterfall Mt and Strickler Knob. The fire seemed to have burned the top of the duff and some brush but didn't burn the bigger trees. The ridge trail south to Strickler Knob was rocky as you'd expect so we dropped packs for the side hike and rockscramble to the knob. The air was clear and the views from Strickler Knob were outstanding. We continued toward the campsite below Burner's Gap through more area that had been scorched by the fire. The trail had been bulldozed probably in an effort to stop the fire. Cold water from the stream was a welcome relief when we got to camp. The second morning we climbed the ridge to Peach Tree Gap and dropped packs for the rockscramble to Duncan Knob. The views were just as good as you see them in the pictures on this site - no snakes though. We returned to the trailhead by the Gap Creek trail. If you're hiking or backpacking in this area take plenty of water and a means of purifying more from streams and seeps. Camps you find on the ridges are dry. Sunscreen and bug spray are also recommended. The bugs on Duncan knob really got a piece of us but overall it was a good hike.
By:
JohnR
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, November 02, 2008
My wife and did this trail on a 60 degree sunny day in early November. The leaf color was past its peak but still interesting, the skies were hazy but clear and the temperature was perfect. The first half of the hike was the best part with the payoff being, of course, Duncan Knob itself. The views were very nice and no one was there but us. One negative aspect was the large number of bugs that were swarming the knob... we hadn't brought insect repellent because it was November after all, so instead of lazing around resting we ate lunch and then headed out fairly quickly. The return leg on the Massanutten Trail was a little disappointing... the 1/2 mile down the Gap Creek Trail was rocky and the fallen leaves hid the rocks which made the footing treacherous, and in general the surroundings were not really noteworthy. This trail was the odd exception where I would probably have been happier not doing a loop but just returning the same way we came in. All in all a good workout and a good hike.
By:
Brandon
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, September 07, 2008
Arrived at 12:30 on a great Sunday and only 2 other vehicles were in the parking lot.
Nice views up top. The climb up to the knob was more rock field climbing than I was expecting - I thought more boulders and rock faces would be involved. Took that little shortcut trail north of the pond - there was a yellow arrow that indicated to not take the trail, but it's no big deal in my view.
The trail in sections were boggier than I expected. And the 2 creeks had more water in them than I expected, considering the time of year, and how close their headwaters are. So you do at least have water to filter at the very beginning/end, and the halfway point.
The middle half of the Massanutten trail was pretty bad. Overgrown in many areas, thanks in part to all the dead trees allowing all that vegetation to flourish.
Also, VA-211 is, I think, one of the nicer backcountry roads to drive on. Smooth gravel, and mostly straight driving.
By:
Larry
Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, August 15, 2008
I should have read the reviews before taking the hike. I have hiked Duncan Knob before but it has been a few years and I was unsure of how to get back so I used the “get directions” section from the HikingUpward website and I found the Google Maps directions misleading near the end of the trip. The directions were fine up thru the Fort Valley Road (19.9 mi) and Camp Roosevelt Road (3.3 mi), but then it says slight right at NF-274. At this point you will come to a very obvious turn off at a bend in the road. There are several signs with road numbers and none of the numbers match the numbers given in the directions. We continued on 675 until we passed the Massanutten trail and realized that we should have done something at the intersection. There are two roads to the right... you want to take the middle road and you will know it's the right road because there is a road sign that says “Crisman Hollow Road” which is FR 274. You will first pass a sign for Gap Creek which goes over to Duncan Knob and the next one will be Scothorn Gap Trail which is on the left with parking and several nice camp sites available.
This hike was great. We took the entire family to include our 5 year old. It was a little overgrown with blackberries before you got to the four-way junction with the Massanutten and Massanutten Connector trail, which made it a little difficult for the little guy. However, the blackberries were ripe and made a great addition to breakfast. There were great views from the top Duncan Knob! The little guy and his mother did not go to the top. I cannot comment on the whole loop because when we arrived at the top of Duncan Knob it began to rain heavily with some lightening and we left via the Gap Creek trail and made our way back to Crisman Hollow Road and back to our vehicle. We had hiked the other side of this circuit, the Massanutten Trail as part of the Duncan Knob Hollow hike, (also a great hike) so we opted to use the Gap Creek Trail to see some country we had not hiked on before.
By:
Andy
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, May 03, 2008
Hiked on 5/3/08 and ran into a group of folks that were clearing the trail with chainsaws. All trails are cleared now.
Between the pond, scramble, views, and burnt sections of the forest, this was a very enjoyable and diverse hike.
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